Tesla has opened its planned Chattanooga showroom and service center as the electric vehicle maker seeks to put a charge into its business in the tri-state area.
"It's pretty busy," said Autumn Barbee, the service adviser at Tesla's newly built location in the Village at Waterside development near Interstate 75 and Shallowford Road.
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Barbee said in an interview the location marked its grand opening earlier this year, though service work started in mid-December at the 26,870-square-foot building.
The showroom is making deliveries of EVs in the area, she said. About two dozen Teslas were lined up on one side of the location Tuesday. Barbee said Tesla was only making sales online, but interested buyers could come in and get more information from an adviser on-site.
"Anyone can come in and talk," she said. "It's possible we'll get a lot more (cars) in the future. It depends what we're given."
The location holds the company's only showroom within about 90 miles, according to the real estate firm Marcus & Millichap. The company brokered the sale last month of Tesla's 4.27-acre tract to a firm for $12.5 million.
Jared Kaye of Marcus & Millichap declined to talk about the deal by phone Tuesday. The buyer was identified in real estate listings locally as a limited liability company — UAP-Elam. The Tesla address is 2415 Elam Road within the mixed-use Waterside development.
Like buying online, service appointments are scheduled through an app, Barbee said.
The Chattanooga service center is seeing a lot of business from Alabama, she said. The state bans the direct sale of new EVs to customers, and Tesla has no service centers in Alabama, according to its website.
Tesla operates stores in Knoxville, Franklin and Memphis in Tennessee and more than a half dozen sites in Georgia.
The Chattanooga location is part of the 22.5 acre Village at Waterside development, according to Marcus & Millichap. The Tesla facility is located adjacent to a new 344-unit apartment complex under construction.
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Waterside also includes a Publix supermarket along with REI and Burlington stores and a variety of restaurants and small shops.
Tesla is the No. 1 maker of EVs in the United States and worldwide. But EV sales are expected to slow from earlier expectations as the industry deals with factors such as demand and charging infrastructure, according to data analytics firm J.D. Power.
That company forecasts EV market share in the U.S. will reach 12.4% in 2024. While up from 7.6% in 2023, the rate is down 0.8 percentage points from the firm's original prediction.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.
Staff photo by Mike Pare / A customer checks out a Tesla vehicle at the company's new showroom and service center Tuesday. The location is in East Brainerd near Interstate 75 and Shallowford Road.